4 Signs You Need to Take a Mental Health Day

Jessica Stillman is a freelance writer based in Cyprus with interests in unconventional career paths, generational differences, and the future of work. She has blogged for CBS MoneyWatch, GigaOM, and Brazen Careerist.

But while more and more people are willing to talk about and prioritize their mental health, many remain unwilling to actually even take the smallest steps to safeguard their sanity, reports Drake Baer on Business Insider recently.

"Lots of folks get cold feet when it comes to taking that needed three-day weekend," Baer writes before offering common excuses we give ourselves for not taking the time we need to maintain our mental balance--such as fears it will hold back our careers or misguided notions that those with a bit of scheduling flexibility (aka freelancers and entrepreneurs) don't need to take time to themselves in the same way regular employees do.

But the simple truth is almost all of us need to schedule special time to unwind and de-stress every once in awhile, according to a recent pieces on Fox News from health writer Laurie Tarkan. The article is a sort of guide to taking a mental health day, including suggestions on exactly how best to spend your hours off and how to update colleagues and clients on what you're up to.

Don't get into a cycle in which lack of sleep increases your stress and your stress makes it harder to sleep. Take a mental health day instead.

2. Weekends aren't cutting it.

You should already have periods for unwinding built into your work schedule--for most of us those are called weekends. But sometimes a couple of days away from the office each week no longer cuts it. "[If] you can't shake last week's stress--in other words, your level of stress is greater than your current stressors"--it's time to add an additional mental health day to your schedule before anxiety starts to pile up week after week, according to Tarkan.

3. You're not as nice as you'd like to be.

We're covered this one before as an early warning sign of impending burnout here on Inc.com, but according to Tarkan, the inability to be as nice to others as you'd like is also a good indicator that you're in need of a mental health day. Watch out if "you're snippy with your spouse, your kids or your co-workers," she writes.

4. You just don't care.

Ideally, no one should come in to the office just to make it through the day and earn a paycheck, but a lack of genuine investment and engagement in your work is an even bigger problem if the business is yours. When apathy starts to sneak in and you get your first hint of that "I just don't give a crap" feeling, think about taking some time to recharge, concludes Tarkan.